State backs off proclamation for explorer

A battle among historians over the exploits of a Harwich-born explorer has prompted Gov. Deval Patrick to make some last-minute changes to his proclamation of Oct. 1 as John Kendrick Day.

K.C. MYERS

HARWICH — A battle among historians over the exploits of a Harwich-born explorer has prompted Gov. Deval Patrick to make some last-minute changes to his proclamation of Oct. 1 as John Kendrick Day.

Instead, Oct. 1 will be declared Columbia and Washington Day, according to Patrick spokesman Matt Kitsos.

"John Kendrick is an important historical figure," Kitsos said Friday, "but this recognizes everyone involved in the expedition."

Perhaps you've never heard of Capt. John Kendrick. He led the first American expedition around Cape Horn and into the Pacific, beginning in 1787, said Scott Ridley, a Harwich author who penned "Morning of Fire: John Kendrick's Daring American Odyssey in the Pacific" (HarperCollins, 2010).

Kendrick opened the gateway of the Pacific to American whalers and merchants, Ridley said. About a dozen years before Lewis and Clark, he held title to more than 1,000 square miles of what later became Vancouver Island.

In other words, he made a big difference in history — and he's from Harwich (born 1740).

The confluence of those facts prompted the Harwich Historical Society, with Ridley's help, to petition the governor to declare Oct. 1 — the day Kendrick's voyage began 225 years ago — John Kendrick Day.

The governor's office responded in the affirmative in the summer, and the Harwich Historical Society invited a number of dignitaries to a ceremony celebrating the proclamation at 2 p.m. today at the Brooks Academy Museum.

But in the past two weeks, another local author, Andrew Giles Buckley of Chatham, has raised objections. Writing to the governor and to a local newspaper, Buckley explained that he, too, had written a historical novel about Kendrick's expedition — "The Bostoner," published in 1999.

Buckley since has launched a documentary film project in which he and a camera crew follow the path of the Columbia, one of Kendrick's two vessels, on a journey around the world. Their Web-only series, "Hit and Run History," is available on WGBH's website.

Buckley, an 11th-generation Cape Codder, objected to the title John Kendrick Day, arguing that it would offend the British Columbian indigenous people known as the Haida.

The Haida, of what are now the Queen Charlotte Islands, came into conflict with Kendrick during his explorations; Kendrick's crew killed a great number of the Haida in battle, Buckley said. Resentments linger to this day.

"It comes down to cultural representation," Buckley said. "Who gets to speak for a particular people."

Buckley proposed instead to declare Oct. 1 Columbia Day, as it would honor a broader number of people involved and not so pointedly reflect the Haida's historic enemy.

Late this week, Kazuo Sayama, a Japanese historian and writer, weighed in with a letter to the Cape Cod Chronicle, a Chatham weekly, suggesting a compromise. Columbia and Washington Day, he suggested, would honor both the Columbia and the Lady Washington, Kendrick's two ships.

The governor agreed with Sayama's suggestion, as did Buckley, who observed: "I'm really grateful the governor made the change. It's a good step forward."

Ridley, however, has mixed feelings.

First of all, he said, no one from the governor's office discussed the change with anyone who proposed the original proclamation months ago.

Second, Ridley said, Buckley lacks historic context. Alliances and rivalries with native people are unavoidable when venturing into native territories.

The governor's last-minute switch "has to do with politics, not history," Ridley said.

Finally, Ridley said, Buckley's proposal is a bit self-serving, as it promotes his project about the Columbia expedition.

Still, he's willing to look at the big picture.

"But the change is really minor, and in the end it does raise interest in a piece of history," Ridley added.

Today's ceremony will go forward as planned.

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